The Ottawa Sport Council is pleased to announce that Prezdential Basketball and Trips For Kids Ottawa are the 2025 recipients of the Ottawa Sport Council Foundation Community Opportunity Grant.
Each group will receive $2,000 towards programs which support accessibility and inclusivity of children and youth from underrepresented and marginalized populations facing socio-economic barriers to participation in sport.
“We are so proud of the inclusion work being done in our local sport community and it was amazing to hear about all the great projects our 2025 applicants are pursuing,” said Ottawa Sport Council Executive Director Frances Mercer.
“Congratulations to Prezdential and Trips For Kids on your outstanding initiatives, and thank you very much to Their Opportunity and the Ottawa Community Foundation for making the grant possible, and to our supporters for their generous donations.”
Prezdential Basketball assists Black, newcomer, and low-income youth aged 9–18, particularly from Ottawa Community Housing neighbourhoods.
Prezdential’s Off-Season Basketball Development Program offers high-quality training, mentorship and life skills to its participants, who often face systemic barriers to participation in organized sports, including financial constraints, transportation issues, and limited access to culturally relevant programming.
On-court sessions include dynamic basketball drills, strength and conditioning, fieldwork and competitive scrimmages, while the UP NEXT: Offseason Development Series helps youth acquire skills for financial literacy, self-regulation, understanding, resilience and mental toughness.
“It’s a base in the foundation of giving you the skills and tools you need so that when you go back to your season, you’re better,” Prezdential Basketball Founder Manock Lual explained in an Ottawa Sports Pages feature by Farrah Philpot charting Prezdential’s evolution from a program which rapidly developed quality basketball players, but quickly came to realize that many students didn’t have the life skills needed to succeed after a few of its early scholarship players dropped out and one was shot.
“And just like that, we shifted our programs from just basketball development to more emotional regulation and life skill programming,” noted Lual, who now runs a total of 32 programs annually across various settings, serving roughly 700 youth a week.
Trips for Kids Ottawa empowers youth through structured outdoor recreation programs in mountain biking, learn-to-ride, skating, snowshoeing and other outdoor adventures which foster leadership, confidence and social belonging.
TFKO offers volunteer-led programs out of Frederick Banting Alternate School and Collège catholique Franco-Ouest.
Frederick Banting serves youth who are not thriving in the mainstream education system, with many students facing issues related to mental health, low income, family dysfunction, the justice system or home/food insecurity. Youth from the Dave Smith Youth Treatment Centre, a live-in addictions and mental health treatment facility, also join in.
Most participants from Franco-Ouest are part of the French Catholic school board’s new arrivals support program, many having originated from war-torn or impoverished African countries.
“The science and studies are in. Once you are outside and doing some sort of athletic activity, you’re starting to produce those endorphins and you’re starting to feel good,” TFKO’s Alison Somers told the Ottawa Sports Pages. “Eventually you‘re going to start to look forward to that as a part of your week and it’s elevating your mood, so it really can have a long-term impact.
“And whether they’ve left other schools, or other countries, they’re finding this sense of community.”
Since 2013, the Ottawa Sport Council has helped champion, educate and connect community sport in Ottawa. The OSC believes there should only be positive experiences in sport, and is committed to supporting community sport participation, reducing barriers and increasing accessibility for equity-deserving populations.
Tax-deductible donations to the Ottawa Sport Council Foundation can be made at https://www.ocf-fco.ca/funds/en-ottawa-sport-council-foundation/.